Dr. Stewart stepped forward, offering me his hand. “Chris Stewart. I’m a friend of your father.”

“That’s your problem, friend. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my beautiful wife and I were just on our way to visit her ailing father—”

“After I screw yer brains out.”

“Correct.” I squeezed my wife’s hand.

Flustered, Ming looked to her three colleagues, then left.

Ben was about to say something, but Dr. Stewart was already herding him out, leaving only Susan standing by the door.

“I’m a big fan of your work, Dr. Wallace. What’s your new invention?”

“It’s a Nessie dildo so women like you can go—”

“Zach!” Brandy clamped my mouth shut with her hand. Then, with a Cheshire Cat smile, she sauntered over to Susan. “I want tae apologize for my husband’s rude behavior. He’s a bit awnry today. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re aboot tae commit a few health code violations.”

Guiding her out of the restaurant, she bolted the door while I dialed a number on my cell phone.

“Whit are ye doing, Zachary?”

“Calling True. I want to make sure he doesn’t rent these people a room.”

Pushing me down onto the table, my wife pulled off my pants and hitched up her skirt. “Call ’im after we’re through. It feels like years since we’ve been together.”

Rain punished the closed green umbrellas outside of Fiddler’s pub. Seated at the bar, Susan watched Ming and Dr. Stewart attempt to pitch Angus Wallace on their venture.

For whatever reason, the old Scot was having none of it.

She drained her third whisky, pondering what it must be like to have biological parents, or any parent that cared. Created in Groom Lake’s genetics lab from a human egg and donor sperm from a dead E.T., Susan McWhite had led a sheltered life with other hybrids. She had not left her subterranean quarters by herself until she was eighteen, after she had completed her required assimilation fieldwork and extensive Kama Sutra training—something the Colonel “tested” her on frequently—everything designed to prepare her for her first assignment. Only then had she begun her course work at UNLV.

She ordered another malt liquor, still shaken over the image she had lifted from Zachary Wallace’s memory.

Her cell phone vibrated. It was the Colonel.

She answered, “I’m listening.”

“Has he accessed the portal in another incarnation?”

“No.”

“You’re certain?”

She glanced up as two bouncers rushed over to Angus’s table. “I’m certain.”

“Then we’ll need to get him to Vostok.”

“That won’t be easy. He refused to meet with Dr. Liao, and his father just punched Dr. Stewart in the mouth.”

“He has a wife and kid. It couldn’t be easier.”

“No.”

“Excuse me?”

“If you take that route, I’ll expose you.”

“Are you challenging my authority?”

“Consider it more of a threat.”